Nation Reviews

@Ducky:

My Russia is always outclassed by Germany. I’ve won with them, but don’t remember the last time. I had an amazing 200 point build, but bit the dust because of an unfavorable side of the map for me, and a very favorable one for him, as well as the fact he fielded almost no armor, which screwed me. Both of us use Russia well (quick and aggressive), but Germany always seems to come out on top. Either because of it hitting harder or just being awesome at playing defensively against Soviet armor. When they are dug in, Russia’s aggression really doesn’t pay off, and it can’t play defensively because of lacking range on attacks. I have a problem of building a Soviet army to take on what I’d personally field as a German player, which I didn’t realize until the last game I played, when I opted to take a KV-1 instead of a Soviet Partisans platoon, and got eaten alive by 5 PAK40s and some MG teams…

My next build is going to be balanced for once… not 90% armor:

Soviet T-34 Platoon - 78
-1x Guards T-34/85
-2x T-34/75
-2x PPSh-41 SMG
Soviet Assault Gun Platoon - 59
-4x SU-76M
Soviet Partisans - 23 (x2)
-1x Cossack Captain
-3x Communist Partisans
-1x Fanatical Sniper
Maxim M1910 MG - 7 (x2)
Mousin-Nagant 1891/30 - 3
Ammo Dump - 10

(the cool thing about the Soviet Partisans platoon is that it doesn’t count against “special unit” limits and all the 6 communist partisans and 2 fanatical snipers within them have a special rule of being deployed on any unoccupied edge hex… 2 snipers with crack shot behind enemy lines!!)

I can’t remember the last time my Germans lost though, which is nice. The only side I have a hard time with is the USA, solely because their infantry is really amazing.

Yeah– I run into the same problem fighting the US. Amazing infantry. I’ve been trying to focus on good German infantry builds and not armor. The german infantry can hold the line like nobodies business with a haupsturmfuhrer present. I’m still waiting on the 2 81mm mortars and spotters I ordered. When the F##k are they going to get here?? My opponent is getting good with Russia and the problem is: they have excellent armor. Almost too good. They have tanks that can do really well against infantry as well so it’s well balanced. I hate those frickin Nagasat men and the snipers. Now I know how my opponent must feel fighting my weirmacht snipers. They are rarely killed and out of the 2 I usually field, it’s rare that one of them dies. In fact, in every game I’ve played, they have been one of the last units standing.

@Ducky:

@Obergruppenfuhrer:

…and you nailed it completely. One of the main reasons Germany lost WWII was preparing for a short war that ended up being a long one. Pride was their downfall.

It’s a character flaw a lot of Germans seem to possess. My German family generally all have the stubborn “my way, or the highway” philosophy….

Yeah. It’s funny how each culture, race or nationality (whatever you want to call it)  has it’s own special gifts in certain areas a a collective whole. Of cousrse there are individual exceptions by the thousands but as a whole, Germans have been know for their dominant, regimented and calculated behavior. They are also a very industrious people with a history of producing the finest iron and steel the world has ever seen.

Himmler was adamant about restoring the practice of making damascus blades which took could take at least 10 years to master making. They produced those as swords and especially daggers for rewards to the SS. These blades were renouned as the finest in the world. Much like the Katana. The difference being, these blades had an amazing spectrum of colors that refracted off them becuase of the long, EXTREMELY difficult process it took to make one. Only a hand full of people in the entire world knew how to make them so Himmler set up shops and apprentice programs to keep this medieval practice alive. Today, I’m sure a genuine dagger could go for 10’s of thousands of dollars on e-bay but they dont even have genuine ones listed. The originals are about as rare as it gets. There’s lots of blades that carry tha label but none that I’ve seen are the genuine ones made by the Germans.

The Italians, as mentioned in a another thread, are not naturally gifted warriors. They are a people of the renaissance, connoisseurs and lovers. They fought like cowards on the eastern fron especially.

They deserted their SS comrades many times as soon as they came under heavy fire. As I’v noted before. The Luftwaffe, stuka pilots in particular returning from sorties, would strafe partisans and Italians running at full speed away from the front line out of pure digust for their cowardice.

The years are all wrong on those, unless you mean the post invasion Polish forces.  The western Allies had Polish units.  And Russians put togtehr Polish units from the captured territirie to fight the Germans too.

If you are doing Invasion of Poland-era, then stick to 1939.

For the Luksusowa scenario, I did research to see what units the Poles actually fielded.  These are limited to 1939:

Bofors You can even find pictures of Polish-manned Bofor guns on the web

Renault R-35 The Polish government tried to purchase Somoa’s (considered to be the best tank of the era) from the French, but ended up purchasing Renaults.

Bren Machine Gunner  Polish light armour, what they had, were often equipped with BRENs.

Bold Captain 1939 Commander…and he’s defense-oriented.

Bohler 47mm Antitank Gun 1939-era anti-tank gun.

Check out the full scenario here:

http://www.axisandallies.org/forums/index.php?topic=11831.0

Just clarified the Victory Condition phrasing a bit.  As was previously written, the game MUST have gone on to turn 10.  The intent was that 10 turns is the longest that match can go on.

Mot

I would love to see DL review of Reserves. His reviews of other sets were really interesting! Keep up the good work!  :-)

Aquilonien

Thanks for the information!

Though I like the grizzled veteran, it is the inspiring hero who has captured my heart.  The last two games I have played with the British I have used the Inspiring Hero in conjuction with 2 piat gunners by themselves in adjacent hexes.  I wait for the Germans to get close- then chaos erupts as I drop my Hero in with my PIATs and they skip forward and stop any armor column dead in it’s tracks.  In each game I have destroyed three tanks, the last one I destroyed a Elite Panzer III, a Puma, and a Panzer IV.  I love PIAT gunners now.

Contested Skies Unit reviews are online now too:
http://www.axisandallies.org/node/65